Smart surface for detecting collision forces

ABSTRACT

One example method of operation may include identifying a vehicle collision event via one or more sensors disposed in one or more sensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of a vehicle via one or more multi-layered removable stickers, responsive to identifying the vehicle collision event, identifying vehicle collision event data including a geolocation of the vehicle and a timestamp of the vehicle collision event, and storing, in a wirelessly accessible memory of the one or more sensor circuits, the vehicle collision event data received during the vehicle collision event.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to provisional application No.62/573,699, entitle “LOW RESOLUTION, TOUCH-SENSITIVE, MICRO-LOCATIONENABLED, NON-DISPLAYING, CONNECTED, SMART SURFACES & APPLICATIONS, whichwas filed on Oct. 18, 2017, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE APPLICATION

This application relates to a smart surface, and more specifically tooperations and procedures for implementing smart surfaces to detect andtransmit collision forces to a tracking device and application.

BACKGROUND OF THE APPLICATION

Conventionally, collisions may occur to automobiles and other vehiclesor constructs involved in transport on highways or other transportmediums, which can lead to dangerous collisions. For example, a car onthe road, a container on a ship or train, etc., may all be vulnerable tocollisions which can cause severe damage to the outside and inside ofthe vehicles. The damage is later examined by an insurance adjuster by apurely visual approach. Such an approach to accounting for damages canlead to fraud and other forms of falsifications since the amount ofdamage, at a particular time, may not always be easily identified by theadjuster. There is currently no simple way to record parameters, such asa time, collision impact strength, and other collision parameters, whichcan be used as a baseline to determine just when and how hard thecollision was at the time of impact.

SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION

Example embodiments of the present application provide at least a methodthat includes identifying a vehicle collision event via one or moresensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of a vehicle, and the one ormore sensors circuits include one or more accelerometers, estimating aposition of the vehicle where the vehicle collision event occurred basedon position data generated by the one or more accelerometers, andstoring in a memory of the one or more sensor circuits, vehiclecollision event data received during the vehicle collision event andbased on the estimated position of the vehicle where the vehiclecollision event occurred.

Another example embodiment may include an apparatus that provides asensor circuit, with one or more accelerometers, a memory and aprocessor, and configured to identify a vehicle collision event via theone or more sensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of a vehicle, theprocessor is configured to estimate a position of the vehicle where thevehicle collision event occurred based on position data generated by theone or more accelerometers, and the memory is configured to storevehicle collision event data received during the vehicle collision eventand based on the estimated position of the vehicle where the vehiclecollision event occurred.

Another example embodiment may include a method that includesidentifying a vehicle collision event via one or more sensors disposedin one or more sensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of a vehiclevia one or more multi-layered removable stickers, responsive toidentifying the vehicle collision event, identifying vehicle collisionevent data comprising a geolocation of the vehicle and a timestamp ofthe vehicle collision event, and storing, in a wirelessly accessiblememory of the one or more sensor circuits, the vehicle collision eventdata received during the vehicle collision event.

Still another example embodiment may include an apparatus that includesa sensor enabled circuit, with one or more sensors, a wirelesslyaccessible memory and a processor, and the sensor enabled circuit isconfigured to identify a vehicle collision event via the one or moresensors affixed to a vehicle body of a vehicle via a multi-layeredremovable sticker, and the processor is further configured, responsiveto identifying the vehicle collision event, to identify vehiclecollision event data comprising a geolocation of the vehicle and atimestamp of the vehicle collision event, and the wirelessly accessiblememory is configured to store the vehicle collision event data receivedduring the vehicle collision event.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example sensor configuration circuit according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates example sensor configuration affixed to a vehiclebumper according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example sensor configuration receiving sensorydata during a collision event according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example sensor configuration receiving sensorydata during a collision event by identifying a phase difference based ondistances of the sensors with respect to the point of impact accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 3C illustrates an example sensor configuration receiving sensorydata during a collision event by identifying an amplitude attenuationsignal based on distances of the sensors with respect to the point ofimpact according to example embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a logic diagram of the components of the sensorconfiguration according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example neural network configuration demonstratingthe logic used to identify collision data according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 6A illustrates another example embodiment of a sensor configurationusing a resistive layer of conductive material.

FIG. 6B illustrates the sensor configuration using the resistive layerof conductive material with various data points.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method of operationaccording to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentapplication, as generally described and illustrated in the figuresherein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following detailed description of theembodiments of a method, apparatus, and system, as represented in theattached figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the applicationas claimed, but is merely representative of selected embodiments of theapplication.

The features, structures, or characteristics of the applicationdescribed throughout this specification may be combined in any suitablemanner in one or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases“example embodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification refers to the fact that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the presentapplication. Thus, appearances of the phrases “example embodiments”, “insome embodiments”, “in other embodiments”, or other similar language,throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the samegroup of embodiments, and the described features, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

In addition, while the term “message” has been used in the descriptionof embodiments of the present application, the application may beapplied to many types of network data, such as, packet, frame, datagram,etc. For purposes of this application, the term “message” also includespacket, frame, datagram, and any equivalents thereof. Furthermore, whilecertain types of messages and signaling are depicted in exemplaryembodiments of the application, the application is not limited to acertain type of message, and the application is not limited to a certaintype of signaling.

Example embodiments provide an accelerometer-based smart sticker. Such aconfiguration may be a single two-dimensional surface, such as a magnetor sticker with an embedded relatively flat-surfaced circuit with acentral controller and a grid of accelerometers and/or other sensorssuch as infra-sound microphones, which will detect a collision event,such as a vehicle accident. The data from the sensors may initiate astoring event that stores the collision parameters into a memory, whichcan later be shared with a third party device, such as a smartphone viaa near-field communication (NFC) antenna module that wirelesslycommunicates with a NFC compatible feature of the smartphone forreceiving the collision parameters to calculate a collision event,including time, collision area and/or other parameters to accuratelyidentify when and where the vehicle was hit relative to the position ofthe sensors.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example sensor configuration circuit according toexample embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1, the example sensory circuit100 includes four accelerometers, including one in a top-left position122 of the sensory circuit, one in the top-right position 124, one inthe bottom-left position 126 and one in the bottom-right position 128.The circuit may be part of a sticker, magnet or other type ofsubstantially flattened surface that is affixed to the vehicle body,such as a bumper sticker 110, which may include a central integratedcircuit 112 with the NFC tag 114 for performing low-power wirelesscommunication to a third party device, a micro-controller/processor 116for computing the logic/instructions to receive, process and transmitthe data collected, a memory 118 to store the instructions and/or thedata created during the collision. Another module which may be part ofthe embedded sticker module may include a global positioning satelliteor global navigation satellite system (GPS/GNSS) module 119 to assistwith a current vehicle location at the time of the accident. For poweran capacitor, solar panel and/or battery 102 may be used to providecircuit power for storing, processing and/or wireless transmitting.

In operation, at the time of a collision the accelerometers 122-128 eachseparately record an infra-sound wave. This wave is produced by thecolliding force, which is a three-dimensional vector (x, y, z) and thusall four accelerometers record the same waveform but with different x, yand z components due to different locations of the accelerometers on thesticker. As a result, just one impact event produces 12 differentwaveforms (e.g., four accelerometers multiplied by three axes of dataper accelerometer). Although the 12 different waveforms are related toeach other since they are produced by the same impact, each of the fouraccelerometers receive its own specific version of the waveform due tovarying amplitudes and phase-angles of the wave when such data reachesthe accelerometer sensors relative to the location of the “point ofimpact”.

FIG. 2 illustrates example sensor configuration affixed to a vehiclebumper according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 2, theconfiguration 200 includes a motor vehicle with a bumper 210 having aset of sensor modules 110, each of which can independently identify acollision event via changes to the sensors embedded in the body of thesticker panels which are affixed to the outside or inside of a vehiclebumper 210. When a collision occurs the data from each sticker panel canbe readily accessed by a smartphone coming into contact with the NFCmodules embedded in the sticker panel body. The NFC module may have alow-power one-time use transmission to the smartphone's NFC antennamodule. The data in the memory can be extracted and used to enact acollision algorithm which takes the data from the plurality ofaccelerometer sensors, compares the data, identifies the time, and usestriangulation or other procedures for determining a relative impactforce, an angle of the impact, etc., so the collision data is accuratelydetected and stored in memory until such information is ready to beshared with the third party smartphone device.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example sensor configuration receiving sensorydata during a collision event according to example embodiments.Referring to FIG. 3A, the configuration 300 provides a bumper 210 withone sticker panel circuit 110 affixed to the bumper 210. In the eventthat an impact occurs at the point of impact area 310, theaccelerometers inside the panel 110 may identify amplitude data,direction data, phase data, etc., which may be compared to the data foreach sensor for accurate impact information.

The bumper 210 may be identified as a plane surface, a“phase-difference” may provide a y-coordinate, or vertical position, ofa “point of impact” 310, while the amplitude-attenuation will beproportional to the x-coordinate or horizontal position of the point ofimpact. At any particular point in time, the microcontroller 116 reads12 values (4 accelerometers×3 axes) from the waveform generated by theimpact. The 12 values can form a “state-machine” which can bedynamically changed according to the wave-vector received at each offour accelerometers. The “state-machine” can be referred to as asensor-actuated and dynamically-changing state-machine. The 12 variablesof the state-machine are provided into a small “foot-print” learningembedded neural network. For example, for an 8-bit microcontroller, the12 values will provide 96 (12×8) binary inputs to the embedded neuralnetwork. The embedded neural network will determine whether thecollision actually occurred or whether the sensors have detectednoise-vibration from un-related sources. When the collision isidentified as having occurred then a point of impact can be identifiedfrom the shape/geometry of the bumper 210, a force of impact, adirection/angle of impact, a geo-location of the accident can also beobtained from a global positioning satellite or global navigationsatellite system (GPS/GNSS) module 119, which may also be included inthe electronic circuitry of the sticker module.

When detecting a time, a “date-time” clock may be set, when the stickeris first initialized by a NFC-enabled smartphone application, and otheruser-specific information may also be set as certain initializationparameters which are written into the memory of the dynamic NFC tag.Once the neural network determines that an accident has occurred, themicrocontroller becomes active and gathers accident parameters andwrites them into the memory of the sticker module along with previouslyinitialized parameters, such as date, time, name, vehicle ID, insurancecompany, etc.

Using an NFC-enabled smartphone, the information stored in the memory118 can be retrieved by a simple close encounter of the smartphoneantenna with the sticker surface, which provides a data transmission toany interested recipient, such as an insurance agency, police, spouse,friends, witnesses, towing service, repair facility, body shop, etc.

In another example, the components of the circuit and correspondingsticker module may be built-in into the bumper 210 by the automobilemanufacturer and/or spare/replacement-parts bumper manufacturers, etc,with next generation products. The neural network may be setup away fromthe sticker module housing, such as near the dashboard of the vehicle,or the roof-top of the vehicle, where more sensors may be used toprovide additional sources of information. In this case, the neuralnetwork can send a wireless or wired signal to “the sticker” to initiaterecording of the collision data. In another example, in addition to agrid of accelerometers and/or infra-sound microphones and/or motionsensors, the electronic circuitry in the smart sticker can also beattached to a low resolution, touch-sensitive, micro-location enablednon-displaying smart surface or connected surfaces.

In the example of a large shipping/trucking container, those constructscan also be equipped with similar sticker modules at each corner of thecontainers, and at other strategic locations/points on the containerswhere collision are likely to occur. Since trucking or shippingcompanies often have damage claims from shippers/manufacturers of goodswhich are transported, then the large-scale journeys made by thosecontainers can be made unsupervised and across large distances, such asin inter-continental trade, without concern for documentation of thedamaging situations which may occur. The sticker modules can provide asource of electronically-collected authentic evidence of activity in andaround the shipped merchandise, and may also support or counter theevidence provided from other sources with regard to accidents.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example sensor configuration receiving sensorydata during a collision event by identifying a phase difference based ondistances of the sensors with respect to the point of impact accordingto example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 3B, the example 350 provides ascenario where impact signal information is identified by two or more ofthe sensors and a phase difference is calculated based on a distancebetween the point of impact and the top right sensor (i.e.,accelerometer) and a distance between the point of impact and the bottomright sensor. This phase difference offers angle information about wherethe point of impact occurs and thus can be used by the recipient deviceto confirm a particular impact point at a particular time.

FIG. 3C illustrates an example sensor configuration receiving sensorydata during a collision event by identifying an amplitude attenuationsignal based on distances of the sensors with respect to the point ofimpact according to example embodiments. In a similar manner to theexample in FIG. 3B, the example 370 provides for measuring an amplitudeof a collision sound/vibration wave at different sensors. In thisexample, the bottom right sensor is closer to the collision point ofimpact 310 and thus the wave amplitude of the signal (e.g., vibration,noise, etc.) is larger as detected at the bottom right sensor than atthe bottom left sensor which receives the same signal further away andthus with additional amplitude loss than the signal amplitude receivedat the bottom right sensor.

FIG. 4 illustrates a logic diagram of the components of the sensorconfiguration according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 4, thelogic diagram 500 includes a set of sensors 510 which actuate and causethe neural network logic 512 to perform certain predefined operations toreceive, store and organize the data into a digital form so the wirelessmodule can retrieve the information from a memory and provide it to amobile device 516 that activates the wireless module to transmit thedata at a later time.

The sensors may be considered a sensor-transducer block which collectsdata pertaining to specific activity-parameters and/or usage-monitoringunits. The neural network 512 provides an electronic logical circuit toprocess sensor data and/or to decide upon the sensor data so a wireless(e.g., BLUETOOTH, NFC, WiFi, etc.) and accessible non-volatile memoryunit can record sensor data and transmit the data to a third partydevice, such as a mobile device 516. One smart bumper sticker embodimentwill include a single accelerometer with 3 outputs (i.e., x-axis,y-axis, z-axis) so motion/vibration along any of axes is detected andpassed to a neural network circuit. The neural network may be a simplelogic circuit with a single 3-input OR gate, and a single 2-input ANDgate as illustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example neural network configuration demonstratingthe logic used to identify collision data according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 5, the neural network 500 includes an ANDgate 502 which has a first digital input of an initialized system 510and a second input as the output of the OR gate 504. The OR gate 504includes three inputs as the accelerometer data 512 including the X, Yand Z axis data and whether a threshold has been exceeded or not. Theoutput of the AND gate 502 is whether a collision has been detected 514.

As is evident from block diagram of FIG. 5, a collision is detected onlyif the circuitry is in the initialized state and any motion, above acertain pre-set motion level threshold, is detected along the X-axis, ORthe Y-axis, OR the Z-axis. It is important that the circuitry should bein the initialized state because after an accident, the sticker memorygoes into a “read only” state so that the collision data may not beover-written by mistake. However, after the collision data has beenretrieved, the electronic circuit can be re-initialized so that it isable to write another collision data set into the sticker memory module.The accelerometer can be replaced with other sensors, such asinfra-sound microphones or other types of motion/vibration detectors.

In other examples, the main input from the sensors to the state machineis from a grid of accelerometers where a microcontroller triangulatesthe location of impact on the bumper from multiple sensor data. Incertain examples, the actuating sensors are a grid of accelerometers,infra-sound microphones, and/or GPS receivers. The embedded neuralnetwork will determine that an accident/collision has occurred andappropriate recording will then be initiated by the output of the logicof the data logic. Regardless of the collision-detection logic or theembedded neural network, the common functionalities of the smart bumperstickers may include pressure/motion sensor/transducers, collision adata recording ability, a battery-less configuration, an energyharvesting operation, an embedded memory in a dynamic NFC tag,smartphone compatibility, notification ready design, an easy insuranceclaim filing process with companion device applications, andcustomizable designs.

In operation, the smart bumper sticker will be placed on automobilebumpers to record vital data when a collision or accident occurs. Thedata is stored in tiny memory modules embedded in the sticker. The datacontains information pertaining to a force of the impact, the directionof the impact, as well as the date, time and geo-location of thecollision. The product is an extremely low-powered device with energyharvesting capabilities, and a wafer-thin body, an electrical chargestoring capacitor, which may act as a battery and which can last for along time.

Retrieving the collision data is achieved through an NFC-enabledsmartphone operating a companion application, which can also be used totransmit the collision data to insurance agencies and/or to otherinterested parties. This will also reduce the paperwork andadministrative cost of claim system management. The sticker isspecifically designed for automobile bumpers, but with very slightmodifications, it can be used on any surface which needs to be protectedfrom tampering and which requires tracking of event data.

FIG. 6A illustrates another example embodiment of a sensor configurationusing a resistive layer of conductive material. Referring to FIG. 6A,this embodiment demonstrates a grid of sensory material 600 with twooverlaid sheets of flexible plastic or similar material as a protectivelayer 610, and as an opaque or transparent material, each of which iscoated with a resistive layer substrate 612, and both sheets areseparated by a grid of spacer dots 620, which can serve as aninexpensive micro-location enabled surface which can communicate x and ycoordinates of any touch-point area which is activated by creating acircuit short which permits an electrical current to pass and berecorded as to a location where the signal is identified with respect tothe entire surface.

In this example, the touch-detection materials and touch positiondetermining algorithm are the same as those used by resistive touchscreens in smartphones and tablets. However, the surfaces of thisimplementation are very different in design, purpose and application.For example, these surfaces have no functionality to display anything,such as liquid crystal display (LCC) screens or other smart devicedisplay screens using similar technologies. The surfaces do not vie forhigh resolution precision. Actually, in most of the applications, thesesurfaces will need only single digit resolution. For example, aresolution of four grid elements per square inch should be enough to pinpoint the exact location of the collision. The surfaces use inexpensivematerials, such as ordinary plastic or other polymerized hydro-carbonsheets, because the use is intended to be a one-time collision detectionuse strategy. In the example embodiment of a “smart bumper sticker” themicro-location of a collision is determined only once, that is when thecollision occurred.

The grid may be an un-powered, or low-powered, proximity-sensor-enabled,bumper sticker, to automatically record and/or report vehicle collisiondata. Auto insurance companies spend a large amount of resources ininvestigating insurance claims pertaining to vehicle collisions. Anun-powered, or low-powered, proximity-sensor-enabled, bumper sticker, ora combination of some other low-cost sensors, to automatically recordand/or report vehicle collision data, will help reduce the cost of claiminvestigation.

Selectively placed, a grid of connected sensors on an easily replaceablebumper sticker can be used to easily capture, time and impact of acollision, and with a carefully designed reporting system, anauthenticated insurance claim system can be devised, which may result inhuge savings to claim authenticity and accuracy. This data can berecorded locally or can be transmitted to the insurance provider,directly, in real time. The bumper stickers can be placed on otherstrategic positions on the vehicles, beside the bumpers. The stickersmay be placed on internal vehicle components in hidden places to capturedata in more aggressive collisions for legal purposes. Solar energy canbe used to power the stand-alone sensors/tags, but otherwise, connectedtags/beacons/sensors may draw their minimal operational power from thevehicle battery sources, on-board batteries and/or small electricalcapacitors.

The tag may use piezo-electric energy generated by the impact or anyother energy harvesting technique. The tags/beacons/sensors can beplaced in a multitude of grid patterns so as to cover all possiblepoints of collision. The signal processing electronic circuitry canreside behind the bumper or within the license-plate frame or even inthe head/tail lights housing, which are already connected to a powersource of the vehicle. In one embodiment, this bumper-sticker willinclude a grid of resistive meshed wires, coupled with two pairs ofwires to monitor x and y co-ordinates of grid elements, which are brokendue to collision impact.

Another example may be a two-layer ordinary plastic sheet coated within-expensive conductive material. Both layers are separated by spacerdots which allow contact between the two layers only due to impact ofthe collision. Relative time-difference between the collapsing of theadjacent grid elements can be used to deduce the force and direction ofimpact. Depending upon the x and y coordinate calculations performed,and also on the technology used in the actual sticker, four or morewires will provide the necessary connectivity between the“bumper-sticker” and the electronic circuitry governing themicro-controller.

FIG. 6B illustrates the sensor configuration using the resistive layerof conductive material with various data points. Referring to FIG. 6B,the example 650 provides the grid of resistive material 612 with holes620 having four wires extend from the stickers representing −x 632, +x636, −y 634, +y 638 data co-ordinates, which will be fed into alow-powered or preferably energy harvesting but otherwise low-endmicro-controller system connected to a dynamic or simple/regular NFC tagor BLE beacon or some other similar sensor.

A choice of additional electronic functionality will be optional. An8-pin controller is enough to perform necessary computing, while anunpowered simplest possible NFC tag may store and transmit the collisiondata to a NFC-enabled smartphone. The direction and speed of a collisioncan be deduced by a timestamp at which the adjacent grid elements wereaffected by the collision. Thus, the force of collision will beinversely proportional to the value (t1-t2) where t1 and t2 are thetimestamps at which adjacent grid elements were struck in the accident.The planar distance between the planes of two adjacent grid elements,will also be taken into consideration, while determining the force anddirection of impact. Similarly, the sequence in which adjoining gridelements were struck will also determine the direction of the impact.The planar distance between the planes of two adjacent grid elements,will also have be taken into consideration, while determining the forceand direction of the impact.

Data collected by the smart bumper sticker can be processed by theattached micro-controller and the values can be easily written into thememory of the connected NFC tag, which also provides the mechanism totransfer information to an NFC-enabled smartphone. A smart-bumpersticker can also be “initialized” by the smartphone application whichcan write the vehicle identification information in the connected NFCtags and memory. In this scenario, if both vehicles are equipped withsmart bumper stickers, then at the time of collision, thisidentification information can also be exchanged between the collidingvehicles, using NFC peer-to-peer NDEF exchange functionality. Theelectronic circuitry to process the collision data can be housed behindthe license-plate or can be placed with head/tail lights. This will beconvenient in power-intensive applications because, headlights as wellas lice se plates are already using or are near an automobile's powersource.

The sensors in the smart sticker may detect that a collision hasoccurred. After that, the electronic circuitry initiates and beginsrecording collision data, such as the geolocation where the collisionoccurred, including latitude and longitude and a time and date thecollision occurred (i.e., timestamp). The geolocation may be based onGPS coordinates. Such information will be stored in the sensor circuitin the memory so insurance agencies will be able to retrieve thatinformation at a later time. A smartphone may retrieve that information,wirelessly, by just a “tap” procedure with the smart sticker to initiatea NFC wireless communication.

The purpose of accelerometer as a sensor type may be to detect acollision and initiate the recording of data. A single accelerometer canalso be used to detect a collision and can also identify certain noisesand vibrations, which could be misunderstand as an accident. So multipleaccelerometers can be used to create a grid which serves as a“infra-sound” sensor because instead of recording a single value at thetime of impact, this grid of sensors may record a waveform over a shortperiod, (milliseconds) after the collision. This waveform not onlyprovides more information about the collision, but also ascertains thatit is an actual collision, and not a false-vibration generated byoutside noise. With the help of sensor-accelerometer grid, morecollision details can be identified which is all secondary information.Other sensors may include an infra-sound microphone, or a liquid-based(e.g., mercury) vibration-detector, motion sensor or other sensor, whichcan replace the accelerometer in the smart sticker sensor module.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method of operationaccording to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 7, the method 700includes identifying a vehicle collision event via one or more sensorsdisposed in one or more sensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of avehicle via one or more multi-layered removable stickers 712, responsiveto identifying the vehicle collision event, identifying vehiclecollision event data comprising a geolocation of the vehicle and atimestamp of the vehicle collision event 714, and storing, in awirelessly accessible memory of the one or more sensor circuits, thevehicle collision event data received during the vehicle collision event716.

The method may include estimating a portion of the vehicle body of thevehicle where a point of impact occurred based on the vehicle collisionevent data generated by the one or more sensors which comprise one ormore accelerometers. The method may also include performing atriangulation between the one or more accelerometers of the one or moresensor circuits based on two or more axis directions which were affectedby collision movement during the vehicle collision event. The method mayfurther include receiving waveform data of a detected waveform, via theone or more accelerometers, due to varying amplitudes and phase-anglesof the detected waveform, when the collision movement reached theaccelerometers relative to a location of impact of the vehicle collisionevent, and determining the point of impact based on the varyingamplitudes and phase-angles of the detected waveform. The method mayalso include transmitting the vehicle collision event data, via awireless communication module stored in the one or more sensorscircuits, to a third party wireless device. The wireless communicationmodule may be a near field communication (NFC) module. The one or moresensor circuits may include a low resolution, touch-sensitive,micro-location enabled non-displaying smart surface. The one or moresensors may include one or more of an infra-sound microphone, aliquid-based vibration-detector, a motion sensor and an accelerometer.

Another example may include an apparatus that includes a sensor enabledcircuit, having one or more sensors, a wirelessly accessible memory anda processor, wherein the sensor enabled circuit is configured toidentify a vehicle collision event via the one or more sensors affixedto a vehicle body of a vehicle via a multi-layered removable sticker,and the processor is further configured, responsive to identifying thevehicle collision event, to identify vehicle collision event datacomprising a geolocation of the vehicle and a timestamp of the vehiclecollision event, and the wirelessly accessible memory is configured tostore the vehicle collision event data received during the vehiclecollision event.

Other operations may provide performing a triangulation between the oneor more accelerometers of the one or more sensor circuits based on twoor more axis directions which were affected by collision movement duringthe vehicle collision event. Receiving waveform data of a detectedwaveform, via the one or more accelerometers, due to varying amplitudesand phase-angles of the detected waveform, when the collision movementreached the accelerometers relative to a location of impact of thevehicle collision event, and determining the position data based on thevarying amplitudes and phase-angles of the detected waveform.

Other operations may include transmitting the vehicle event data, via awireless communication module stored in the one or more sensorscircuits, to a third party wireless device. The wireless communicationmodule may include a near field communication (NFC) module. The one ormore sensor circuits further include a low resolution, touch-sensitive,micro-location enabled non-displaying smart surface.

Another example embodiment may include an apparatus that provides asensor circuit, having one or more accelerometers, a memory and aprocessor, and configured to identify a vehicle collision event via theone or more sensor circuits affixed to a vehicle body of a vehicle, theprocessor is configured to estimate a position of the vehicle where thevehicle collision event occurred based on position data generated by theone or more accelerometers, and the memory is configured to storevehicle collision event data received during the vehicle collision eventand based on the estimated position of the vehicle where the vehiclecollision event occurred.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the system, method, and computerreadable medium of the present application has been illustrated in theaccompanied drawings and described in the foregoing detaileddescription, it will be understood that the application is not limitedto the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit orscope of the application as set forth and defined by the followingclaims. For example, the capabilities of the system of the variousfigures can be performed by one or more of the modules or componentsdescribed herein or in a distributed architecture and may include atransmitter, receiver or pair of both. For example, all or part of thefunctionality performed by the individual modules, may be performed byone or more of these modules. Further, the functionality describedherein may be performed at various times and in relation to variousevents, internal or external to the modules or components. Also, theinformation sent between various modules can be sent between the modulesvia at least one of: a data network, the Internet, a voice network, anInternet Protocol network, a wireless device, a wired device and/or viaplurality of protocols. Also, the messages sent or received by any ofthe modules may be sent or received directly and/or via one or more ofthe other modules.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a personal computer, a server, a console, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tablet computing device, a smartphoneor any other suitable computing device, or combination of devices.Presenting the above-described functions as being performed by a“system” is not intended to limit the scope of the present applicationin any way, but is intended to provide one example of many embodimentsof the present application. Indeed, methods, systems and apparatusesdisclosed herein may be implemented in localized and distributed formsconsistent with computing technology.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike.

A module may also be at least partially implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in differentlocations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, random access memory (RAM), tape, or any othersuch medium used to store data.

Indeed, a module of executable code could be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork.

It will be readily understood that the components of the application, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended tolimit the scope of the application as claimed, but is merelyrepresentative of selected embodiments of the application.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that theapplication as discussed above may be practiced with steps in adifferent order, and/or with hardware elements in configurations thatare different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although theapplication has been described based upon these preferred embodiments,it would be apparent to those of skill in the art that certainmodifications, variations, and alternative constructions would beapparent, while remaining within the spirit and scope of theapplication. In order to determine the metes and bounds of theapplication, therefore, reference should be made to the appended claims.

While preferred embodiments of the present application have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the application is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when considered with a full range ofequivalents and modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices,software platforms etc.) thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: identifying a vehiclecollision event via one or more sensors disposed in one or more sensorcircuits of a multi-layered removable sticker affixed to an externalvehicle body; responsive to detecting a point of impact via the one ormore sensors, determining a phase difference, based on distances of theone or more sensors with respect to the point of impact, measured fromone accelerometer and one or more additional accelerometers disposed incorners of the multi-layered removable sticker; and responsive toidentifying the vehicle collision event, storing vehicle collision eventdata comprising a geolocation of the vehicle and a timestamp of thevehicle collision event in a wirelessly accessible memory of the one ormore sensor circuits.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:estimating a portion of the vehicle body of the vehicle where the pointof impact occurred based on the vehicle collision event data generatedby the one or more sensors which comprise the accelerometers.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising: performing a triangulationbetween the accelerometers of the one or more sensor circuits based ontwo or more axis directions which were affected by collision movementduring the vehicle collision event.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising: receiving waveform data of a detected waveform, via theaccelerometers, due to varying amplitudes and phase-angles of thedetected waveform, when the collision movement reached theaccelerometers relative to a location of impact of the vehicle collisionevent; and determining the point of impact based on the varyingamplitudes and phase-angles of the detected waveform.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: transmitting the vehicle collision eventdata, via a wireless communication module stored in the one or moresensors circuits, to a third party wireless device.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the wireless communication module comprises a nearfield communication (NFC) module.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theone or more sensor circuits further comprise a low resolution,touch-sensitive, micro-location enabled non-displaying smart surface. 8.The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors further compriseone or more of an infra-sound microphone, a liquid-basedvibration-detector, and a motion sensor.
 9. An apparatus comprising: asensor enabled circuit, comprising one or more sensors, a wirelesslyaccessible memory and a processor, wherein the sensor enabled circuit isdisposed in a multi-layered removable sticker affixed to an externalvehicle body of a vehicle and is configured to identify a vehiclecollision event via the one or more sensors, responsive to detection ofa point of impact via the one or more sensors, the processor isconfigured to determine a phase difference, based on distances of theone or more sensors with respect to the point of impact, measured fromone accelerometer and one or more additional accelerometers disposed incorners of the multi-layered removable sticker; and responsive to thevehicle collision event being identified, store the vehicle collisionevent data comprising a geolocation of the vehicle and a timestamp ofthe vehicle collision event in the wirelessly accessible memory.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to estimate aportion of the vehicle body of the vehicle where the point of impactoccurred based on the vehicle collision event data generated by the oneor more sensors which comprise the accelerometers.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein the processor is configured to perform a triangulationbetween the accelerometers of the sensor enabled circuit based on two ormore axis directions which were affected by collision movement duringthe vehicle collision event.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, whereinaccelerometers are configured to receive waveform data of a detectedwaveform due to varying amplitudes and phase-angles of the detectedwaveform, when the collision movement reached the accelerometersrelative to a location of impact of the vehicle collision event, anddetermine the position data based on the varying amplitudes andphase-angles of the detected waveform.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the sensor circuit further comprises a wireless communicationmodule configured to transmit the vehicle event data to a third partywireless device.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the wirelesscommunication module comprises a near field communication (NFC) module.15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sensor circuit furthercomprises a low resolution, touch-sensitive, micro-location enablednon-displaying smart surface.
 16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein theone or more sensors further comprise one or more of an infra-soundmicrophone, a liquid-based vibration-detector, and a motion sensor.